Annual Vehicle Miles Traveled in the United States

1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023
Trillion Miles 1.128168 1.200898 1.276857 1.300512 1.297834 1.341416 1.413035 1.475402 1.55536 1.528928 1.52287 1.541724 1.606475 1.657857 1.720246 1.787798 1.857631 1.939041 2.041441 2.117716 2.141582 2.18883 2.25382 2.297939 2.38672 2.417911 2.496251 2.570334 2.626392 2.697095 2.754784 2.808501 2.854268 2.90417 2.972672 2.99938 3.012977 3.031224 2.962426 2.945064 2.973046 2.958872 2.968068 2.98342 3.036013 3.107344 3.179963 3.216598 3.248548 3.284596 2.832199 3.171317 3.187189
Source: Federal Highway Administration monthly Traffic Volume Trends report
Notes: Annual VMT values show moving 12-month averages taken in February of the listed year.
This chart shows trends in total vehicle miles traveled (VMT) in the United States (expressed as a moving 12-month count) from 1971 to 2023. The long rise in VMT has seen three periods of flattened growth or decline, triggered by the oil price spikes of 1974, 1979, and 2008. The VMT flattening that started in 2008 continued long after oil prices recovered, largely because of an economic recession. Starting in 2012, VMT began rising again largely because the U.S. economy recovered while petroleum prices remained relatively low. The rate of increase slowed between 2017 and 2020. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, VMT in 2021, which reflects February 2020 through January 2021, was the lowest since 2002. VMT hasn’t fully rebounded to pre-pandemic levels in part because of the increased number of remote workers.

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